Hi folks,
As one of the ABA big year birders that this discussion group is following, let me say thank you. It makes a fun year that much more fun to know that there are other crazy birders who share the interest. I do enjoy checking out the comments on the discussion occasionally – and have benefitted from observations relating to errors, emissions, and so on, on my list. Those determinations are always helpful, and appreciated. Joe Lill always lets me know when he, or someone in the discussion group finds a discrepancy of any sort.
I thought it worth taking a minute to give warning that there are additional adjustments to be made on my year-list, reflecting yet more errors than even poor Joe was aware of! I can’t really offer any reasonable excuse – other than my choice to not bite the bullet and start using eBird has its drawbacks, especially since my method of registering new sightings on my blog is a bit complicated. In a nutshell, most of the goofs have to do with my ‘thinking’ the species is properly reported, and on my current ‘the list so far’ list. What goes wrong is that when, too often, I’ve made errors in the reporting process, which I do through a different website, which cause the new listing to not appear on ‘the list so far’. For the most part, the goofs have involved common species, for which I had actually entered one or two photographs. That’s why, when Joe says – Hey John, you clearly have seen a Gambell’s Quail – you even published an image on a blog post, so why isn’t it on your list?, my first instinct is to argue that it is on my list – though upon looking into it, of course Joe is right.
The two times that I’ve found the time to sit down and compose my way-too-extensive ‘still needed’ list, I’ve found a bucket-load of species not on my ‘list so far’, that I thought had been properly entered. The first time was when I was back home in Australia for a few days four weeks ago – and now, again, at my home office, having returned again, due to continuing family health matters. I’ll warn everyone in advance, this time was a doozy, with about a dozen species that I’m about to add to my list (or for the most part, fix the dodgy data entries that hid them from ‘the list so far’ page. Here’s a quick preview of these. I’ll of course have locales and photos (for most, I think). I believe they are just about all ‘Code 1’ birds. In any event, I apologise for the issues, as I do appreciate the interest in this year’s ABA big year, including for my own part in the contest. Speaking of ‘contest’, I must say, the frontrunners of the game this year, at this stage, are two of my favorite people – Richard and Gaylee. If they, or the McQuades (who I somehow haven’t met up with, but hear only good things about) finish on top, I’ll be the very first to sincerely congratulate them.
Although, it’s doubtful that this (third visit) will be my last return visit home this year due to ongoing issues, the seemingly slow start to my year is not entirely due to that – I know it. But the plan is to hit the road running in a few days, so watch this space. I hope to score most of the lingering coded birds (Texas, Florida, Maine) while on a counterclockwise race around the perimeter of the US, finally taking the time to scoop up a kazillion common birds I’ve not yet pursued. My Australian birding buddy Murray will be joining me for a couple of weeks, maybe longer. We’ve kicked some goals in Australia over the years, chasing bird and reptile rarities, and had a blast together during my chicken run and coastal Texas Spring migration big year legs in 2016. It was during that trip that Murray began to notice soreness in various bones, whereafter he ended up getting some imaging back home in Brisbane. To the devastation of everyone – especially Murray – one of the fittest (and funniest) people I’ve known, the images revealed rampant melanoma disease, with sizeable tumours in bones and body organs, the biggest being a cricket-ball sized tumour in his right lung. Of course, we all thought that was ‘it’. Who could have known that an experimental treatment study required one more participant to get off the ground? And who’d have guessed that there could be a way to alert an immune system to the presence of enemy cells that had previously been cloaked? As of last week - three years after getting his affairs in order, Murray is tumour-free. It looks like the treatment system works for about 40% of melanoma sufferers, and promises wider cancer-treatment use. So on more than one level, I’m very excited about snapping out of the apparent droll, and turning things around – mainly on the continent this summer (with a few unusual sea-plans), and the hope that instead of a repeat of 2016’s ‘worst ever year in Alaska for rarities’, I can catch a break on the islands, and hopefully score some of the Asian passerines that were not blown into view on Attu this spring.
Here’s the list of species I’ll be ‘back-dating’ – again, sorry about that – but as always, the intention is to lift my game!
Birds from Attu that I somehow goofed in reporting:
Tufted Duck (we saw numerous)
Red Phalarope (at sea)
Short-tailed Shearwater (by the hundreds at sea).
Others:
Gambell’s Quail (! – like maybe twenty different sightings)
Pacific Golden Plover (Hawaii)
Greater Frigatebird (Hawaii)
Common Waxbill (Hawaii)
Yellow-billed Cardinal (Hawaii)
Least Sandpiper (!)
White-faced Ibis
Tropical Kingbird
Vesper Sparrow
Pyrrhuluxia (!!)
Sora
Bank Swallow
Last week in Arizona:
Dusky-capped Flycatcher
Western Wood-pewee (though I have seen/photographed it several times earlier as well)